For many years, it has been proposed to provide air tables which would provide a bed or cushion of air upon which a puck would move effectively without friction. Illustrative of such air tables are Williams U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,415,478 and 3,429,544 granted Dec. 10, 1968 and Feb. 25, 1969 respectively. It has also long been known to provide hockey games wherein opposing players would propel a puck towards the opposing goal across the table surface such as for example illustrated in Dennison U.S. Pat. No. 3,228,688 granted Jan. 11, 1968. Heretofore, it has been suggested to use air for propelling game pieces as for example in Pflugmann U.S. Pat. No. 3,066,937 granted Dec. 4, 1962 and Bayha U.S. Pat. No. 3,367,658 granted Feb. 6, 1968.
Recently, there has developed considerable market interest in hockey and like games which would combine the relatively frictionless movement of the puck disclosed in the Williams patents across an air table while opposing contestants attempted to direct that puck into a goal. Illustrative of this type of device are the hockey game illustrated in Crossman et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,773,325 granted Nov. 20, 1973 and the curling game illustrated in Ducharme U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,888 granted Mar. 27, 1973. In the latter patent, one embodiment discloses the use of a resiliently deformable boundary wall provided by elastic bands to return the puck rapidly from the side surface of the game board. Generally, there has been a continuing desire to increase the rapidity of game action not only in the air powered games of the type discussed above but also in various other games involving contestant reflexes.
There have been disclosed various composite playing pieces in connection with different types of games in order to facilitate varied or improved play action. Illustrative of such composite game pieces are those illustrated in: U.S. Patent Granted Patentee ______________________________________ 2,494,929 1/17/50 Colalucia 2,606,030 8/5/52 Tjomsland 2,812,184 11/5/57 McGee 3,206,210 9/14/65 Bard 3,310,307 3/21/67 Brown 3,610,625 10/5/71 Erno 3,675,928 7/11/72 Gentile 3,726,526 4/10/73 Radovich 3,784,204 1/8/74 Felber 3,797,057 3/19/74 Smelden 3,851,880 12/3/74 Ritch ______________________________________
However, there has heretofore been no game puck for an air powered table which would provide a combination of resilient rebound characteristics and effectively friction-free movement over the playing surface with the puck being adapted to provide varied and rapid game action.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel puck for use in air powered games wherein the puck rebounds rapidly from the margins of the playing surface to provide rapid and diverse game action.
It is also an object to provide such a puck wherein a controlled spin may be imparted to the puck so as to produce unusual rebound movements from the side margins of the game board.
Another object is to provide such a puck which may be fabricated relatively simply and economically from synthetic resins.
A further object is to provide an air powered game employing the novel puck described above and affording diverse and rapid game rebounding action.